Reading for Departure: Narrative Theory and Phenomenological Interviews on Hallucinations

Bernini, M.

Abstract

Within the psychological and social sciences, phenomenological reports are mostly either analysed to identify patterns that could fit a model or coded for quantitative or qualitative analysis, rather than treated as (more or less narrative) texts to be read. Drawing narrative theory into conversation with scientific understandings of hallucinatory experiences, this chapter considers instead a set of problems in the readerly dimension of phenomenological interviews. What kind of interpretive dispositions do we, as readers, bring to these qualitative reports? How can narrative theory help illuminate our relationship to forms of storytelling which often seem to surface out of confused or inconsistent pre-verbal and pre-narrative experiences? What kind of active, yet tensive, relation exists between the background world of readers and the reported world of the voice-hearer? Adapting key concepts from classic and post-classic narrative theory, this chapter sets out a novel interdisciplinary approach to phenomenological interviews on hallucinations.

Citation

Bernini, M. (2022). Reading for Departure: Narrative Theory and Phenomenological Interviews on Hallucinations. In B. Alderson-Day, A. Woods, & C. Fernyhough (Eds.), Voices in Psychosis: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (108-116). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192898388.003.0013

• Online Publication Date: Sep 8, 2022
• Publication Date: 2022-09
• Deposit Date: Nov 10, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 9, 2024
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Pages: 108-116
• Book Title: Voices in Psychosis: Interdisciplinary Perspectives
• ISBN: 9780192898388
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192898388.003.0013
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1630039
• Contract Date: Apr 23, 2019